No Catholic can responsibly take a 'pro-choice' stand when the
'choice' involves the taking of innocent human life.

National Council of Catholic Bishops.[1]

Anti-Life Philosophy.

A large number of Catholic theologians hold that even direct
abortion, though tragic, can sometimes be a moral choice.

'Catholics' for a Free Choice.[2]

Introduction.

The Two Questions.

At this time in our country's history, vastly improved communications
and fetal science are working together to tear the shroud of mystery and
secrecy away from the unborn child and from abortion. Therefore, the
abortion battle is becoming intensely feverish as more and more
Americans are being forced to confront the issue.

At the heart of the abortion debate are twin questions. The first of
these is purely scientific: Are the unborn living persons, or are they
not? Science has definitively settled this question, and even
pro-abortionists have been forced to admit that the preborn are living
beings, as described in Chapter 70.

The second question is philosophical and moral: May these living
beings be killed, and, if so, under what circumstances?

The very nature of this second critical question makes it an
appropriate problem for all churches to discuss. And, since churches are
made up of people, these individuals must have the right to act on their
consciences, either singly or in groups.

The Unfulfilled Potential.

However, there are many people in this country who, while loudly
proclaiming their right to follow their consciences, are actively
campaigning to deprive those who oppose them of the same right.

Pro-abortionists correctly recognize that the Roman Catholic Church
has the potential to be their most dangerous enemy. However, the Church
certainly has not lived up to its possibilities, in large part because
its hierarchy and its rank-and-file lay people have been intimidated
into silence and inactivity.

Outline of the Chapter.

This chapter is divided into two sections. The first addresses the
historical and current teachings of the Catholic Church regarding
abortion, and also discusses the role of conscience, the "double
effect," the issue of ensoulment, and the disposition of the souls
of aborted and miscarried preborn babies.

The second half of the chapter addresses the various tactics used by
pro-abortionists to confuse and deactivate the leadership and laity of
the Catholic Church in America, and describes their inbred hatred of the
Church and everything that it stands for.

On the Historical
Opposition of the Catholic Church to Abortion.

I think it undeniable that some of the liberals' bungling can be
dismissed as the unseemly sputterings and stutterings of a
transparently camouflaged anti-Catholic bias ...

Roger Wertheimer.[3]

Lies to Confuse.

The most common pro-abortion lie about Catholic Church teaching
claims that the Church has not always condemned abortion. This
particular lie has been effectively used by unscrupulous pro-abortion
activists all over the world to confuse and neutralize their Catholic
opposition.

Just a few of the various forms this pro-abortion lie assumes are
shown in Figure 43-1. The first quote, by the propaganda front group
'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR), summarizes many of the
most common outright pro-abortion lies about the early history of Church
teachings regarding abortion.

I go to church on Sunday but do not subscribe to many of the basic
tenets of the Church. That does not mean I am any less a Catholic.

Pamela Maraldo, president of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, quoted in "More on Maraldo."
National STOPP News, January 20, 1993, page 1.

Catholic theology, which now regards the early fetus as a person, did
not always do so. The Church first adopted the belief of Aristotle, St.
Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas that ensoulment occurs
several weeks after conception. Pope Innocent III, who ruled at the turn
of the 13th Century, made that belief part of Church doctrine, allowing
abortion until fetal animation. It was not until 1869 that the Church
prohibited abortion at any time and for any reason.

'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights.
June 1978 propaganda pamphlet entitled "ABORTION: Why Religious
Organizations in the United States Want to Keep it Legal."

The Catholic Church is not consistent in its teaching. From 1211 to
1869, it recognised two types of foetus. It taught that the male
foetus became animated at 40 days, and the female at 80 days.
Furthermore, until 1869 the Church allowed abortion until quickening.

Diane Munday of the British pro-abortion
group "Association for the Reform of the Abortion Law." Quoted
in Colin Francome's Abortion Freedom: A Worldwide Movement.
London: George Allen & Unwin Publishers, 1984, pages 89 and 90.

[Prior to 1869], the Church had officially accepted the theory of
delayed animation for 500 years ... Abortion before ensoulment was
tolerated by the Catholic Church.

Abortion was only declared illegal and condemned by the Roman
Catholic Church in the 1800's. The Catholic Church condoned abortion
until the fetus "quickened," meaning the time when a
pregnant woman first feels the unborn child moving.

Until the end of the 16th Century with the reign of Pope Sixtus V,
the Church did, indeed, permit the termination of pregnancies within
40 days of conception for a male and 80 days for a female the old
Aristotelian concept ... But I believe that a case can be made and
many intelligent Catholics have agreed with me that the church's
attitudes towards abortion have varied in past history, are not always
consistent and can, like other elements of Catholic dogma, be changed
to meet man's increased enlightenment and changing social conditions.

Although Catholic teaching on abortion has shifted through the
centuries, the current position is clear: abortion is murder. This
position has been fixed since 1869, when Pope Pius IX reinstituted the
doctrine that the soul enters the body at the moment of conception;
from that moment on, the fetus is therefore a person. Furthermore,
because the fetus has a soul, it must be baptized in order to remove
original sin. Catholics therefore believe that not only is abortion
murder, but it also condemns the unborn person to Hell.

Michael Carrera's quote in Figure 43-1 is particularly significant.
He calls himself 'Catholic,' yet makes at least nine major doctrinal
errors in his short one-paragraph quote. In fact, this self-proclaimed
"expert" does not make a single correct statement in
this widely-circulated passage.

It is frightening to realize that uninformed people look to trash
like this for clarification of the official teachings of the Catholic
Church!

Summary of Rebuttal.

The falsehoods shown in Figure 43-1 have been bandied about by
devious pro-abortionists for the last century, and the time has come to
lay them to rest once and for all.

Most importantly, the Catholic Church has never "approved
of" or "condoned" abortion in any part of its
history. It has never taught that the time of 'ensoulment' of the
unborn child depended on its sex, as stated above; this was merely the
speculation of two theologians (who, by the way, both condemned abortion
at all times).

And the Catholic Church has never accepted the theory of
delayed animation. The only time that the Church has ever
addressed this question is when Pope Innocent XI officially condemned
the theory that animation took place at birth.

The teachings of the Catholic Church have been uniformly against
abortion in any form, and have been stated and restated consistently
through the centuries.

Those who believe otherwise are hereby challenged to produce a
statement by any Pope, cardinal or bishop supporting abortion
from any period in history (declarations by Modernist priests
with suspended teaching authority don't count).

Early Teachings of the
Church.

Figure 43-2 lists some quotes from the early history of the Church
delineating its true teachings regarding abortion. This figure
depicts passages from only a few of the many early Church documents that
explicitly condemned abortion.

Other early Church theologians examined the methods, motives,
morality and metaphysics of abortion. They all described abortion as a
heinous sin, and their writings are listed in the second half of Figure
43-2.

FIGURE 43-2
EARLY PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AGAINST ABORTION

You shall love your neighbor more than your
own life. You shall not slay the child by abortion.

Barnabas (c. 70-138), Epistle, Volume
II, page 19.

For us [Christians], murder is once and for all forbidden; so even
the child in the womb, while yet the mother's blood is still being
drawn on to form the human being, it is not lawful for us to destroy.
To forbid birth is only quicker murder. It makes no difference whether
one takes away the life once born or destroys it as it comes to birth.
He is a man, who is to be a man; the fruit is always present in the
seed.

Tertullian, 197, Apologeticus, page
9.

Those women who use drugs to bring about an abortion commit murder
and will have to give an account to God for their abortion.

It is among you that I see newly-begotten sons at times exposed to
wild beasts and birds, or dispatched by the violent death of
strangulation; and there are women who, by the use of medicinal
potions, destroy the unborn life in their wombs, and murder the child
before they bring it forth. These practices undoubtedly are derived
from a custom established by your gods; Saturn, though he did not
expose his sons, certainly devoured them.

Minucius Felix, theologian (c. 200-225), Octavius,
p. 30.

... if we would not kill off the human race born and developing
according to God's plan, then our whole lives would be lived according
to nature. Women who make use of some sort of deadly abortion drug
kill not only the embryo but, together with it, all human kindness.

Sometimes this lustful cruelty or cruel lust goes so far as to seek
to procure a baneful sterility, and if this fails the fetus conceived
in the womb is in one way or another smothered or evacuated, in the
desire to destroy the offspring before it has life, or if it already
lives in the womb, to kill it before it is born. If both man and woman
are party to such practices they are not spouses at all; and if from
the first they have carried on thus they have come together not for
honest wedlock, but for impure gratification; if both are not party to
these deeds, I make bold to say that either the one makes herself a
mistress of the husband, or the other simply the paramour of his wife.

Some virgins [unmarried women], when they learn they are with child
through sin, practice abortion by the use of drugs. Frequently they
die themselves and are brought before the ruler of the lower world
guilty of three crimes; suicide, adultery against Christ, and murder
of an unborn child.

The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no
difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to
the penalty for homicide.

St. Basil the Great, priest (c. 329-379), First
Canonical Letter, from the work Three Canonical Letters. Loeb
Classical Library, Volume III, pages 20 to 23.

Accordingly, among surgeon's tools, there is a certain instrument,
which is formed with a nicely-adjusted flexible frame for opening the
uterus first of all, and keeping it open; it is further furnished with
an annular blade, by means of which the limbs within the womb are
dissected with anxious but unfaltering care; its last appendage being
a blunted or covered hood, wherewith the entire foetus is extracted by
a violent delivery. There is also a copper needle or spike, by which
the actual death is managed in this furtive robbery of life: they give
it, from its infanticide function, the name of enbruosphaktes, the
slayer of the infant, which was of course alive ... life begins with
conception, because we contend that the soul also begins from
conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place
that the soul does.

The Catholic Church has always taught that abortion is murder.
However, some confusion exists because the penalties for the murder of a
preborn child have been changed several times in the history of the
Church.

In 1588, Pope Sixtus V tried to discourage abortion by reserving
absolution to the Holy See alone. Because of the numbers of abortions
taking place, it soon became evident that such an arrangement was
impractical, and so in 1591, just three years later, Pope Gregory XIV
returned absolution for abortion to the local ordinary (the local
bishop).[4]

Paolo Zacchia, Physician-General of the Vatican, published a book in
1620 entitled Quaestiones Medico-Legales in which he argued that
ensoulment takes place at conception and that development is a
continuum.[5]

In 1679, Pope Innocent XI condemned the writings and teachings of two
theologians, Thomas Sanchez and Joannis Marcus, who believed that
abortion was lawful if the fetus was not yet animated or ensouled and
the purpose of the abortion was to prevent shame to the woman.[6] This
act showed decisively that the Church did not tolerate abortion, and was
willing to prosecute those who spread error regarding child-killing.

The French Jesuit Theophile Raynaud (1582-1663) believed that
indirect abortion of a viable baby to save the mother's life was
allowable. This was notable because he was the first theologian
to hold this view and his teachings were unique in the Church until
about 1850. This is an early statement of the "double effect,"
described later in this chapter.

In 1869, Pope Pius IX took the action that 'Catholic'
pro-abortionists deliberately misrepresent in order to buttress their
heretical views. The abortophiles allege that, in this year, the Pope
condemned abortion for the very first time.

In reality, the Pope officially removed the distinction between the
animated and unanimated fetus from the Code of Canon Law.[7] This action
dealt not with theology, but with discipline, and merely made the
punishment for abortion at any stage uniform. The Pope removed the
distinction in order to support the Church's stance that life and
ensoulment both begin at conception.

Recent Teachings of the Catholic Church Regarding Abortion.

Nor can he [the politician] take part in a propaganda campaign in
favor of such a[n abortion] law, or vote for it.

Vatican's Declaration on Abortion,
November 18, 1974.

Declarations of Recent Popes.

The dissident 'theologians' quoted in this chapter are obviously in
direct disobedience to the teachings of Rome. Every Catholic is bound to
follow the Magisterium (teaching authority) of the Catholic Church,
which originates in Rome. The opinions of renegade Catholics and
publicity-seeking 'theologians' are utterly meaningless and carry no
weight whatever. In case there is any doubt about the enduring position
of the Catholic Church on abortion, consider Figure 43-3, which shows
some quotes by Popes of this century on the topic of intrauterine child
lynching.

FIGURE 43-3
STATEMENTS OF RECENT POPES CONDEMNING ABORTION

But another very grave crime is to be noted, venerable brethren,
which regards the taking of the life of the offspring hidden in the
mother's womb ... As to the "medical and therapeutic
indication" to which, using their own words, we have made
reference, venerable brethren, however much we may pity the mother
whose health and even life are gravely imperiled in the performance of
the duty allotted to her by nature, nevertheless what could ever be a
sufficient reason for excusing in any way the direct murder of the
innocent? This is precisely what we are dealing with here. Whether
inflicted upon the mother or upon the child, it is against the precept
of God and the law of nature: "You shall not kill." The life
of each is equally sacred, and no one has the power, not even the
public authority, to destroy it ...

The direct procuring of abortion is never justified by any
"indication" nor by any human law; nor is it shown to be
licit by appealing to the argument of self-defense or of extreme
necessity ... Those who hold the reins of government should not forget
that it is the duty of public authority, by appropriate laws, to
defend the lives of the innocent, and this all the more since those
whose lives are endangered and assailed cannot defend themselves.
Among whom We must mention, in the first place, infants hidden in the
mother's womb. And if the public magistrates not only do not defend
them, but by their laws and ordinances betray them to death at the
hands of doctors or of others, let them remember that God is the Judge
and Avenger of innocent blood which cries from earth to heaven.

Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii #67,
December 31, 1930.

Every human being, even the child in the womb, has the right to
life directly from God and not from his parents, not from any society
or human authority. Therefore, there is no man, no society, no human
authority, no science, no "indication" at all whether it be
medical, eugenic, social, economic, or moral that may offer or give a
valid judicial title for a direct deliberate disposal of an innocent
human life, that is, a disposal that aims at its destruction, whether
as an end in itself or as a means to achieve the end, perhaps in no
way at all illicit. The direct destruction of so-called "useless
lives," already born or still in the womb, practiced extensively
a few years ago [by Nazi Germany], can in no wise be justified ... The
life of an innocent person is sacrosanct, and any direct attempt or
aggression against it is a violation of one of the fundamental laws
without which secure human society is impossible ... [N]ever forget
this: There rises above every human law and above every
"indication" the faultless law of God [emphasis in
original].

Pope Pius XII, Allocution to Midwives,
October 29, 1951.

No matter what the distinction between those different moments in
the development of life, already born or still to be born, for profane
and ecclesiastical law and for certain civil and penal consequences
according to the moral law, in all these cases it is a matter of a
grave and illicit attempt on inviolable human life.

This principle holds good both for the mother as well as the child.
Never and in no case has the Church taught that the life of the child
must be preferred to that of the mother. It is erroneous to place the
question with this alternative: Either the life of the child or that
of the mother. No; neither the life of the mother nor of the child may
be submitted to an act of suppression. Both for the one and the other
the demand cannot be but this: To use every means to save the life of
both the mother and the child.

Pope Pius XII, Address to the Family Front
Congress, November 27, 1951.

In conformity with these landmarks in the human and Christian
vision of marriage, We must once again declare that the direct
interruption of the generative process already begun, and, above all,
directly willed and procured abortion, even if for therapeutic
reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating
birth.

Equally to be excluded, as the teaching authority of the Church has
frequently declared, is direct sterilization, whether perpetual or
temporary, whether of the man or of the woman. Similarly excluded is
every action which, either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in
its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences,
purposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation
impossible.

Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae,
July 25, 1968, Paragraph 14.

Disregard for the sacred character of life in the womb weakens the
very fabric of civilization; it prepares a mentality, and even a
public attitude, that can lead to the acceptance of other practices
that are against the fundamental rights of the individual. This
mentality can, for example, completely undermine concern for those in
want, manifesting itself in insensitivity to social needs; it can
produce contempt for the elderly, to the point of advocating
euthanasia; it can prepare the way for those forms of genetic
engineering that go against life, the dangers of which are not yet
fully known to the general public.

Pope Paul VI, September 11, 1968.

Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of
conception; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.

Second Vatican Council, Encyclical Gaudium
et Spes, IV, 51.

It must in any case be clearly understood that a Christian can
never conform to a law which is in itself immoral, and such is the
case of a law which would admit in principle the licitness of
abortion. Nor can a Christian take part in a propaganda campaign in
favor of such a law, or vote for it. Moreover, he may not collaborate
in its application.

Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith. "Declaration on Procured Abortion." November 18, 1974,
Paragraph 22.

Barbarity and cruelty are the right names [for abortion]: The
mothers conceive a child, then accuse it of being their unjust
aggressor and suppress it.

Pope John Paul I (as Cardinal Luciani), 1977.

I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that
all human life from the moment of conception and through all
subsequent stages is sacred, because human life is created in the
image and likeness of God. Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity
of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction;
human life is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts,
that grown and develops; human life is the concrete reality of a being
that is capable of love, and of service to humanity.

If a person's right to life is violated at the moment in which he
is first conceived in his mother's womb, an indirect blow is struck
also at the whole of the moral order ... Human life is precious
because it is the gift of God, a God whose love is infinite; and when
God gives life, it is forever.

From Pope John Paul II's homily at the
Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., on October 7, 1979. quoted in
"Human Life is the Gift of God." The Wanderer, October
18, 1979, pages 1 and 9.

The unborn human being's right to live is one of the inalienable
human rights. God, the Lord of Life, has given man the exalted task of
preserving life, and this must be carried out in a way which is worthy
of mankind. From the conception, therefore, life must be protected
with the greatest care. Abortion is the taking of a child's life and
is a repulsive crime.

If you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting
peace, then, America, defend life! All the great causes that are yours
today will have meaning only to the extent that you guarantee the
right to life and protect the human person.

Every human person no matter how vulnerable or helpless, no matter
how young or how old, no matter how healthy, handicapped, or sick, no
matter how useful or productive for society is a being of inestimable
worth created in the image and likeness of God. This is the dignity of
America, the reason she exists, the condition for her survival yes,
the ultimate test of her greatness: To respect every human person,
especially the weakest and defenseless ones, those as yet unborn.

These Popes have condemned abortion clearly and unmistakably. No
honest or open-minded person could possibly believe that there is a
'diversity of opinion' on the subject of abortion within the Catholic
Church.

As strongly as the Church has spoken on abortion, perhaps nobody has
described the very heart of the matter as well as Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, who even condemned it during her Nobel Prize acceptance
lecture. On September 17, 1988, in Ottawa, Canada, Mother Teresa
eloquently reiterated this belief; "Every abortion kills two the
child and the conscience of the mother. The latter will never forget
she, herself, has killed her own child. If you don't want that child, I
want it, give it to me!"

On the Infallibility of Humanae Vitae.

Some so-called 'Catholics' claim that the only teachings of the
Church that its members are bound to follow are those that have solemnly
been declared to be infallible.

Conversely, they say, any teaching of the Church that has not
specifically been declared infallible is open for individual
interpretation. This category of teaching would, of course, include
those that have addressed such sexual conduct as fornication, adultery,
abortion, divorce, and the use of artificial contraception.

The question of conscience vs. authority must be answered on two
levels, the most basic being from the standpoint of "natural
law." As defined in Romans 2:12-16 and Jeremiah 31:33, God imprints
the natural law on the heart and soul of man, and this leads him to know
whether or not an act is moral or evil. In other words, "natural
law" is man's instinctual knowledge of what is right and what is
wrong his "conscience."

St. Thomas, who is quoted in The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
says that "Natural law is simply the light of intelligence placed
within us by God; by it we know what we should do and what we should
avoid. God bestowed this light, or this law, with the creation."

The practical effect of pronouncements made under natural law is that
they can never be changed not even by the Pope and all of his assembled
Cardinals and Bishops. And certainly not by disgruntled lay
people and dissident priests!

But 'Catholics' for a Free Choice is always telling us that we can
choose abortion if we do so with a clear conscience. In other
words, just as homosexuals are "born that way," some people
are born with a conscience that is vestigial in that it does not
restrict their activities in the slightest.

Occasionally these pro-abortion 'Catholics' will quote a Vatican II
document entitled Declaration on Religious Freedom in support of
their contention that we should be able to do anything our 'conscience'
does not object to.

However, Father John Courtney Murray, S.J., principal author of the Declaration,
anticipated this kind of dishonesty. He stated in a footnote to the
Abbott-Gallagher edition of the council texts that "The Declaration
does not base the right to the free exercise of religion on 'freedom of
conscience.' Nowhere does this phrase occur. And the Declaration nowhere
lends its authority to the theory for which the phrase frequently
stands, namely, that I have the right to do what my conscience tells me
to do, simply because my conscience tells me to do it. This is a
perilous theory. Its particular peril is subjectivism the notion that,
in the end, it is my conscience, and not the objective truth, which
determines what is right and wrong, true or false."[8]

After settling the question of "natural law," we must turn
our attention to the related issue of ex cathedra ('from the
chair') pronouncements of the Pope.

There are two methods by which Catholics may know that a teaching of
the Church is infallible and therefore must be obeyed by all Catholics in
order to remain Catholic.

The first of these, of course, is an ex cathedra
pronouncement. Popes use this mechanism very infrequently, and then only
to address the very fundamentals of Catholic faith. Only once since 1870
has the Pope spoken ex cathedra; on November 1, 1950, when Pope
Pius XII declared the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.

Many pro-life theologians have debated the wisdom of having the
Church's teachings on birth control and abortion be formally declared
infallible, and have decided that this would not be wise in the larger
scheme of things. The reason is that such a pronouncement in an area of
morals (as opposed to fundamental beliefs) would give the impression
that all other moral teachings of the Church were optional. This might
lead to a situation where disbelief would run rampant in the areas not
specifically addressed ex cathedra, and would lead to more and
more demands for such pronouncements in almost every area of Church
teaching.

The second means by which Catholics may know that a Church teaching
is infallible is by examining the ordinary magisterium. This is the
usual, day to day expression of the Church's infallibility.

The Canon of St. Vincent of Lorenz declares that any doctrine that
has been taught semper ubique obomnibus always, everywhere, and
by everyone makes it part of the ordinary and universal Magisterial
teaching.[9]

As shown by the quotes of ancient and modern Catholic theologians in
Figures 43-2 and 43-3, the prohibition against abortion has indeed been
taught semper ubique obomnibus. Therefore, Pope Paul VI's 1968
encyclical Humanae Vitae does not declare or create some new
doctrine or dogma. It simply reiterates the infallible doctrine that
human life is sacred from conception to natural birth.

From this, we may state without fear of contradiction (from anyone
who counts, that is) that the Catholic Church's ban on abortion is,
indeed, derived from an infallible doctrine.

Before wrapping up this discussion on infallibility, we must consider
this question: Do we really think that 'Catholic' abortophiles would
suddenly stop their child killing if the Pope suddenly issued an ex
cathedra decree that abortion was a mortal sin?

Obviously, they would not. Just as with the question of ensoulment,
the pro-aborts couldn't really care less about the degree of solemnity
of Catholic condemnation of abortion. This is another red herring they
use to distract attention from the real issue.

An Expanded Definition of 'Abortion.'

The Catholic Church has recently expanded its definition of abortion
to include new drugs and surgical procedures. This expansion has not
been necessary until recently because such drugs and procedures simply
have not existed until this time, and their invention had created a new
'grey area' that needed to be clarified.

The Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the
Code of Canon Law, on November 24, 1988, stated that abortion is not
only "the expulsion of the immature fetus," but is also
"the killing of the same fetus in any way and at any time from the
moment of conception."[10]

This definition of abortion includes the use of any of the following;



all birth control pills, because every birth control
pill manufactured today causes early abortions part of the time!
For a description of the modes of action of birth control pills
manufactured today, see Chapter 31.

 mini-pills, morning-after pills, true abortion pills such as
RU-486, abortifacients such as Depo-Provera, and injectable
abortifacients such as NORPLANT (described in Chapters 33 and 34);

 the use of all intrauterine devices (IUDs), which are all
abortifacient and act by preventing the implantation of the
already-fertilized zygote (in order for the sanctions [including
excommunication] against abortion to be applied, the woman must know
that the IUD's action is abortifacient). The modes of action of the IUDs
are described in Chapter 32.

The Church Penalty for
Assisting or Obtaining Abortions: Excommunication!

If you carefully examine your conscience and then decide that an
abortion is the most moral act you can do at this time, you're not
committing a sin. Therefore, you're not excommunicated. Nor need you
tell it in confession since, in your case, abortion is not a sin.

'Catholics' for a Free Choice brochure
entitled "You Are Not Alone."

On 'Playing the Game.'

If a person refuses to play by the rules of a game, he is almost
always barred from playing that game. If a basketball player insists on
travelling, he will eventually be ejected. If a card player insists on
cheating, he will be identified as a cheater and nobody will play with
him. If a soldier refuses to salute, wear a uniform, or carry a rifle,
he will be court-martialled and jailed or thrown out of the service.

The same holds true of the 'games' of life and religion. If a person
constantly preys on others, he is not playing by the rules that society
has set down, and, if he persists in his predatory activities, he will
eventually be separated from society or even 'ejected' from life if his
crimes are serious enough.

Perhaps every faithful Catholic has heard ignorant bigots sneer
"if da Pope no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules," with
regards to abortion and contraception. These people are missing the
point. The Pope is not a player in the game; for Catholics, he is
the coach and referee. And if so-called 'members' of the team
(members of the Catholic Church) do not play by the rules, then they
should be 'cut' from the team by excommunication. We might take the
"play the game" remark and turn it around to use against the
so-called 'Catholic' abortophiles: "If you no play-a by de rules,
you no play-a de game."

After all, what's fair is fair for everyone!

The Media and Excommunication.

The pro-abortion media, of course, might be expected to maintain a
double standard on anything impinging upon abortion. Excommunication is
no exception.

Members of the media simper that the excommunication of bad
'Catholics' is an unacceptable interference in public life, but they see
no inconsistency when they attempt to meddle in Church affairs.

Of course, the media propagandists don't really care about
excommunication; they only care about abortion. The New York Times
proved this point with its greatly divergent reactions to the
excommunication of two leaders from separate spheres of social activism.

When San Diego's Bishop Leo Maher excommunicated pro-abort state
assemblywoman Lucy Killea in 1990, the Times sniveled "By
imposing a test of religious loyalty, Bishop Maher threatens the truce
of tolerance by which Americans maintain civility and enlarge religious
liberty."

When John Cardinal O'Connor of New York threatened excommunication
for pro-abortion 'Catholic' politicians, the Times squawked that
he was "... tearing at the truce of tolerance that permits
America's pluralistic society to work."

However, when Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans in 1962
excommunicated Leander Perez, a white supremacist and Louisiana
political boss who had opposed desegregation of the schools, the Times
didn't seem to mind at all; "Men of all faiths must admire the
unwavering courage of the Most Reverend Joseph Rummel, Archbishop of New
Orleans ... We salute the Catholic Archbishop. He has set an example
founded on religious principle and is responsive to the social
conscience of our time."

Of course, Catholic clergymen aren't the only people who
excommunicate the dissenters within their ranks, but they are the only
ones who get negative media attention.

Openly sodomite Congressman Barney Frank (D.-olt) was formally
excommunicated according to Jewish law (Halacha) by Beth Din
Zedek (the High Rabbinical Ecclesiastical Court) on June 27, 1990. The
presiding Rabbi, Joseph Friedman, stated that the excommunication was
for "Desecrating the name of God and the Jewish people, for
bringing dishonor and disgrace upon the high office of Congressman, and
for promoting and encouraging the moral corruption of society. A
prominent Jewish public official, to our deep embarrassment, Frank has
been a blatant promoter of moral depravity."[11]

Although this eminently justifiable writ of excommunication was
extraordinarily stronger in tone and content than anything that Cardinal
O'Connor or anyone else in the Catholic Church had issued, and although
it was directed at a far more famous person than a lowly abortion clinic
operator, the secular press played it down or ignored it altogether.

Obtaining An Abortion.

The position of the Catholic Church on abortion could not be clearer.
Only a person who is willfully blinding himself or herself to the facts
could make the ridiculous claim that there is 'room for a diversity of
opinion' within the Catholic Church on abortion.

The church not only does not want to change its teaching on
abortion it absolutely cannot change its teaching, because this
critical issue deals with fundamental questions of faith, morals, and
ethics.

Those 'Catholic' abortophiles who are waiting for a change will be
waiting for a very long time indeed.

Canon 2350, promulgated in 1917, states that all who procure abortion
shall be automatically excommunicated.

.
Those who successfully abort a living human fetus bring on themselves
instant excommunication.

Abortum procurat means anyone who works to kill a human fetus in
any manner at all. This may be the boyfriend or husband who drives the
mother to the abortion mill, pays for the abortion in full or in part,
or even advises that abortion may be an option in her case.

Latae sententiae means that the person brings instant
excommunication upon himself with his act. No solemn pronouncement need
be made by the Church or a Bishop or priest, and no one else need even
know about the abortion. For automatic excommunication to take place,
the woman must know that she is pregnant and must freely
choose abortion. At the moment the woman's child dies, she is cut
off from all the Sacraments completely, and cannot return unless she
sincerely repents and makes a good confession. This sanction also
applies to the abortionist, attending nurse or counselor, and anyone
else who assists in the abortion. This is why Mary Ann Sorrentino, a
"Catholic" who administered a Planned Parenthood abortuary in
Rhode Island, was publicly excommunicated. Keep in mind that Rome or the
Bishop did not excommunicate her, nor did any priest; she excommunicated
herself.

It is important to note here that the woman must be fully
knowledgeable of her act. She may using the birth control pill,
intra-uterine device (IUD), NORPLANT, or some other abortifacient. Since
many women are completely unaware of the abortifacient effects of these
devices and drugs, they would not generally be liable to
excommunication.

Effectu secuto means that the excommunication takes place only if
the abortion is completed.

Assisting in Procurement.

Canon Law 1398 (quoted above) and Section 2 of Canon Law 1329 outline
quite clearly the penalty for assisting in an abortion. The latter Canon
Law states that "Accomplices, even though not mentioned in the law
or precept, incur the same penalty [latae sententiae
excommunication] if, without their assistance, the crime would not have
been committed, and if the penalty is of such a nature as to be able to
affect them; otherwise, they can be punished with ferendae sententiae
[inflicted by clergy] penalties."

In fact, the United States Catholic Bishops have stated quite clearly
that one cannot be Catholic and even support the general concept
of abortion; "No Catholic can responsibly take a 'pro-choice' stand
when the 'choice' involves the taking of innocent human life."[1]

In other words, the term "pro-choice Catholic" is the
ultimate oxymoron.

Abortion to Save the Life
of the Mother
The 'Double Effect.'

Source of Confusion.

The very rare cases of pregnancy that pose a real and immediate
threat to the mother's life including uterine cancer and ectopic
pregnancies are a source of great confusion, especially among Catholics.

It is absolutely true that the Catholic Church bans abortion to save
the life of the mother. However (and this is an extremely
important point) the mother's life may be saved by a surgical
procedure that does not directly attack the unborn baby's life.

The most common dysfunctions that may set a mother's life against
that of her unborn child's are the ectopic pregnancy, carcinoma of the
uterine cervix, and cancer of the ovary. Occasionally, cancer of the
vulva or vagina may indicate surgical intervention.

In such cases, under the principle of the "double effect,"
attending physicians must do everything in their power to save both
the mother and the child. If the physicians decide that, in the case
of an ectopic pregnancy, the mother's life can only be saved by the
removal of the Fallopian tube (and with it, the unborn baby), or by
removal of some other tissue essential for the preborn baby's life, the
baby will of course die. But this would not be categorized as an
abortion. This is all the difference between deliberate murder
(abortion) and unintentional natural death.

The principle of the "double effect" also applies to sexual
sterilization. If a woman must have a hysterectomy to remove a
dangerously cancerous uterus, this will result in her sterilization, but
is not a sinful act. However, if the purpose of the operation is not to
heal or safeguard health, but to directly sterilize, then that act is
intrinsically evil and is always a mortal sin.[12]

Statement of Intent and Principle.

Pope Pius XII summarized the intent of the double effect when he
addressed the Family Front Congress on November 27, 1951; "Both for
the one and the other, the demand cannot be but this: To use every means
to save the life of both the mother and the child."[13]

Pius also stated the general principle of the "double
effect" on October 29, 1951, at his address to the Italian Union of
Midwives. This speech is codified in the Pope's Acta Apostilicae
Sedis, 43(1951), page 855.

Article 14 of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's
Declaration on Procured Abortion (November 18, 1974) reiterates
it.

The pertinent passage of this document reads; "Deliberately we
have always used the expression 'direct attempt on the life of an
innocent person,' 'direct killing.' Because if, for example, the saving
of the life of the future mother, independently of her pregnant
condition, should urgently require a surgical act or other therapeutic
treatment which would have as an accessory consequence, in no way
desired or intended, but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an act
could no longer be called a direct attempt on an innocent life. Under
these conditions the operation can be lawful, like other similar medical
interventions granted always that a good of high worth is concerned,
such as life, and that it is not possible to postpone the operation
until after the birth of the child, nor to have recourse to other
efficacious remedies."

Yet More Silliness.

As described in Chapter 10 of Volume I, "Infiltration and
Subversion," one of the most effective general strategies employed
by pro-abortionists and other anti-lifers involves the assertion that
"this is not a black and white question." In other words, the
pro-aborts would have us believe that there is some enormous (and
necessarily undefined) grey area within which many ethical questions
fall.

Of course, this concept is the ultimate red herring: According to
'Catholics' for a Free Choice and other phony 'Christians,' any abortion
that any woman wants inevitably falls into this "gray
area."

As with every other ethical and moral question posed to
pro-abortionists, "wanna-be" theologians stretch the
"double effect" to cover all abortions, and the effects
are frequently comical. For example, John Swomley, a propagandist for
the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights, claims that "The
Roman church argues that although the death of the fetus is foreseen, it
is not intended because the intention is to preserve the health and life
of the woman. Isn't it just as reasonable to assert that the intention
of most women is the separation of the fetus from the woman, not the
killing of the fetus, though its death may be foreseen?"[14]

Swomley obviously isn't thinking here: He "forgets" that
Canon law requires that the desired effect (in his example,
"separation of the fetus from the woman") must be accomplished
in such a way as to best assure the survival of both mother and child.
Thus, the approved method to achieve "separation" would be the
natural termination of pregnancy known as "birth," occurring
at about nine months' gestation.

Additionally, if the intention of most women is the "separation
of the fetus from the woman," why do 1.6 million women reject
adoption each year? And why do abortionists deliberately use methods
designed to kill preborn babies in late abortions? It is plain that the
purpose of abortion is indeed to produce a dead baby.

The Question of Ensoulment.

Saints Thomas and Jerome.

Some pro-abortion propagandists with no particular regard for the
truth point to the fact that Saint Thomas and Saint Jerome speculated as
to when the soul was infused by God, and say that this uncertainty
constitutes a definite approval of abortion. Others, like Dr. Robert E.
Hall, simply make flatly untrue statements such as "One can admire
St. Augustine for conceding that no one will ever know when fetal life
begins."[15]

Other misleading statements by bogus "Catholics" used to
prop up their unjustifiable support of prenatal child killing are even
more bizarre. For example, "Catholic" Marjorie Reilly Maguire,
a board member of the National Abortion Rights Action League, claims
with a straight face that the Annunciation "proves" that
ensoulment does not take place until the mother consents to "the
pregnancy that is within her."[16]

Keep in mind that, according to the Gospels, the Virgin Mary
consented prior to the moment of conception.

These statements are illogical and, of course, dead wrong. Both
Saints Thomas and Jerome recognized that ensoulment and abortion were
two distinct and separate issues. They both condemned abortion in the
strongest possible terms (see Figure 43-2 for one of St. Jerome's
statements against abortion).

In any case, the matter of when the body is 'ensouled' has
historically made no difference to the Catholic Church; see the quotes
in Figure 43-2 by Saints Basil and Jerome, for proof. It is quite
obvious from the language he uses that St. Basil had extensive
experience in dealing with Fourth Century pro-abortion doublespeak.

In summary, Saints Thomas and Jerome were postulating a theory based
upon the best medical knowledge of their time, which had been set forth
by Aristotle centuries before. Aristotle taught that the unborn did not
become human until forty days after conception. This notion was only
discarded in 1621, based upon the work of Paulo Zacchia in his Quaestiones
Medico-Legales, question 9.1.

Consistency at Any Ridiculous Cost?

It is quite evident that the 'ensoulment' argument is nothing more
than a red herring. It is an attempt to 'prove' that the Catholic Church
is 'inconsistent' in its teachings on abortion.

In reality, of course, pro-aborts couldn't care less when the
soul is infused. They know that such a concept cannot be scientifically
proven one way or the other, so they are 'safe.' They can continue to
kill with an uncluttered conscience.

If someone suddenly developed a new and advanced technology that
could definitively detect the presence of a soul in the preborn child,
does any thinking pro-lifer believe that the pro-aborts would suddenly
give up their precious 'right' to kill as a result?

If there are people that naive out there, we know of a slightly-used
bridge for sale at a very attractive price ...

Pro-abortion groups will go to laughable extremes in their attempts
to prove 'inconsistency' in Church teachings. For example, they actually
say with a straight face that the Catholic Church is not consistent
because it does not insist on a funeral Mass for each miscarried baby.

Can you believe it? This idiotic statement glaringly highlights the
pervasive pro-abortion double standard. On the one hand, the pro-aborts
insist that any mother who wants to kill her child should be able to
define it out of existence with a mere thought, i.e., "This baby is
unwanted, and therefore does not exist." She doesn't need the
validation of Church or State or any other authority. All she needs,
curiously enough, is an abortuary to eliminate this supposedly
'nonexistent' baby.

On the other hand, a grieving pro-life mother who has miscarried has
to jump all kinds of hurdles before the existence of her baby can
be 'validated.' The pro-abortionists say that she must have a
funeral Mass and the participation of the Catholic Church, a Catholic
priest, and numerous other people before her opinions and
feelings are legitimized.

What blatant inconsistency!

Also, whatever happened to the 'right to privacy' cherished by the
pro-aborts? Apparently, it is only for them. After all, they're special
cases. Just ask them.

This is typical of the pro-abortion mentality. The mother's wishes or
biological fact do not make the baby a human being; the funeral does!

The National Abortion Rights Action League even insisted in its June
1978 A Speakers and Debaters Notebook that every Catholic woman
must have a formal funeral Mass and burial each time she menstruates,
since the 'products of menstruation' just might include an
unnoticed very early miscarriage! Population controller Garrett Hardin,
always at the forefront of the abortion debate with a wide variety of
silly statements, weighed in with the slightly differing (but still
profoundly absurd) opinion that "Whenever a woman is late with her
period, the menstrual products will have to be collected and given a
proper burial."[17]

These and other pro-abortionists know that the Catholic Church is
potentially their most dangerous enemy, and thus they are constantly
trying to saddle it with obviously impossible missions in the name of
'consistency.' NARAL would just love to see Catholic priests
spend 90 percent of their time saying funeral Masses for used Stayfree
mini-pads!

Ah, the 'logic' of the abortophile mentality! As Ralph Waldo Emerson
once said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little
minds."

Conclusion.

Most pro-abortionists don't believe in God (at least not a Christian
God), and therefore don't believe that human beings have souls. Why,
then, are they quibbling about a concept that they don't believe in to
begin with? Why, to divert attention away from the central issue the
immoral and unethical slaughter of real live unborn babies.

Curiously, those very few pro-aborts who do believe in 'ensoulment'
are nevertheless willing and eager to kill what they believe does
have a soul the unborn baby.

Baptism for Preborn
Babies.

Is Their Baptism Possible?

Many Catholics believe that the greatest tragedy of abortion is not
the actual deaths of preborn babies, but their loss of Heaven due to the
fact that they were not baptized.

However, it is rather presumptuous to state as fact that all
unbaptized people go straight to Hell (or even to some Limbo-like
state), because this includes a broad assumption that God is restrained
by certain laws as understood by man. God's power obviously cannot be
limited by the desires or opinions of men; His power is infinite, and He
can do anything He wants, including welcoming to Heaven unbaptized
preborn babies. Some theologians believe that, after their deaths, God
gives aborted and miscarried babies full knowledge and does so that they
may make their own decision about eternity, just as they would have done
on earth.

It is a repugnant concept that God would condemn to Hell a person
who, through no fault of his own, has never heard of Christ. Therefore,
the Catholic Church teaches that even persons who have never heard of
Christ may be worthy of Heaven if they live a benign lifestyle that
generally adheres to the precepts of Christianity. Since unborn babies
are guilty of no sin other than original sin, they certainly fit this
category.[18]

As proof of this, the Catholic Church has formally canonized as
Saints a group of unbaptized persons the Holy Innocents, who died
directly because of others who hated Jesus, just as all of the aborted
babies are dying for hate of Him today.

The Baptism of Desire.

Catholic pro-life groups, including Catholics United for Life and the
Shield of Roses, commonly pray the Rosary for the dying and the dead
outside abortuaries. The purpose of these Rosaries, in part, is to
request the baptism of desire for the unborn babies being slaughtered
there that day. Even if the aborting mothers are atheists and couldn't
care less about their babies' souls, Catholics believe that it is
possible to request baptism for them. This is essentially the same
understanding used by mothers who conditionally baptize their miscarried
babies.[18]

The Baptism of Blood.

Many religions share the belief that those who die for God are
martyrs who gain Heaven. Catholicism is no exception. Many believe that
the little preborn babies who die of abortion are sacrificed for
convenience (or necessity, in rare cases), and are therefore true
martyrs, as were the Holy Innocents, the babies who died at Herod's
hands in place of Jesus.

The Catholic Church canonized the Holy Innocents due because their
deaths were to odium fidei, or hatred of the Faith. Father
Benedict Groeschel says that it is reasonable to expect that unborn
babies may also be killed due to odium fidei (or odium Dei),
and therefore assume the status of latter-day Holy Innocents.[19]

On Extreme Unction for Infants.

Many pro-abortionists practically go into a frenzy looking for
perceived 'inconsistencies' in the teachings of the Catholic Church, and
will bellow triumphantly when they 'find' it even if their conclusions
are mistaken because they have failed to do proper research.

One typical example of mistakenly-perceived 'inconsistency' deals
with the administration of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction ("The
Last Rites") to infants. As illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett
asserted, "However, somewhat contraditory [sic] I would think, it
the fact that Catholic priests do not, ordinarily, give a fetus the
usual extreme unction or burial services afforded a still-birth. It
seems to me that this kind of differentiation, in practice, is in
variation with their beliefs. If they do consider the fetus to be alive,
why do they deny it the extreme unction given the child born dead? I
have never heard this question answered."[20]

It is quite obvious that Barnett never bothered to ask a competent
Catholic priest her question on Extreme Unction, or she would
have heard it properly answered. To begin with, Barnett flaunts her
ignorance of the Catholic faith by asserting that stillborn babies
receive Extreme Unction. This is impossible, since this Sacrament can
only be given to living people. Stillborn babies are dead. If there is
some question as to whether or not the baby is living, this Sacrament
may be administered conditionally.

As for her 'unanswered' question, Extreme Unction is not usually
given to any children under the age of reason (about seven
years). This is because intent is a necessary part of any sin and
children under seven are deemed incapable of having the intent necessary
commit serious sin. Therefore, priests generally do not administer
Extreme Unction to very young children because they have no intentional
sins to remit.

For Those Who Think the Pope is Just the Bishop of Rome.

Almost all anti-life 'Catholics' know the truth about abortion.
They simply want to rationalize their 'trendy' beliefs, both to
themselves and to others (this is a very common phenomenon, and is
well-known to psychiatrists). And they try to do so with absurd and
dangerous assumptions that even they know, deep down inside, are false.
Somehow they think, that on the Judgement Day, they will be able to
excuse themselves by saying that they were sincere. But our eternal
Judge knows better, because He knows us much better than even we know
ourselves. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "The greatest power of
the mind is its capacity to deceive itself."

One of the more common assertions made by anti-life 'Catholics' in
this country is that the Pope is just another Bishop of a small and not
particularly important Archdiocese in some far-flung Mediterranean
country. As such, why should we listen to him? The reason for this
subterfuge is obvious. The pro-abortion propagandists loathe the
unyielding pro-life position of the current Pope, and so disregard his
edicts in favor of a local 'authority' that better suits their
viewpoint.

To these 'Catholic' pro-abortionists, we say: Listen to your own
United States Bishops, who have repeatedly condemned abortion for any
reason. The dates of just a few of their major declarations, statements,
and letters against abortion are listed below.

SUMMARY OF RECENT STATEMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
CATHOLIC BISHOPS AGAINST ABORTION

The sweeping judgement of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Texas and
Georgia abortion cases [the Roe and Doe cases] is a flagrant rejection
of the unborn child's right to life ... Although as a result of the
Court decision abortion may be legally permissible, it is still
morally wrong, and no Court opinion can change the law of God
prohibiting the taking of innocent human life.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops,
January 24, 1973.



Statements against abortion by the National Conference of
Catholic
Bishops (NCCB), January 24, 1973; April 7, 1970; February
13, 1973;
September 18, 1973; November 13, 1973; and November 20,
1975.
 Bishops of Connecticut, September 1974
 Bishops of Illinois, March 20, 1969
 Bishops of Illinois, February 3, 1971
 Bishops of Indiana, December 1972
 Bishops of Maryland, January 27, 1971
 Bishops of Massachusetts, March 1971
 Bishops of Massachusetts, February 1972
 Bishops of Missouri, December 1970
 Bishops of New Jersey, March 1970
 Bishops of New York, February 12, 1967
 Bishops of New York, February 13, 1970
 Bishops of New York, March 19, 1970
 Bishops of New York, December 2, 1970
 Bishops of New York, April 7, 1972
 Bishops of Pennsylvania, September 1970
 Bishops of Texas, April 1971

Reference. All of the above Bishop's
declarations, statements, and pastoral letters are reproduced in their
entirety in the Daughters of St. Paul's book Yes to Life. Order
from Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts,
02130. 328 pages, 1976.

If, even after seeing all of this evidence, an anti-life person
continues to insist that there is some ill-defined 'plurality of
opinion' regarding abortion within the Roman Catholic Church in the
United States, simply ask him or her for a statement by any Pope
or Bishop supporting abortion for any reason. If the person is to any
faint degree open-minded, this should finally close the argument. You
may wish to conclude by showing them the next few paragraphs dealing
with excommunication.

What "Diversity of
Opinion?"

I know that if either of my girls came to me and said, "Mom,
I'm pregnant, and I'm not gonna have that baby," I would say
"Here's the money. Please go see a doctor."

Geraldine Ferraro, Ms. Magazine, July 1984.

Introduction.

Pro-abortion propagandists very commonly claim that the Catholic
Church has, at one undefined time or another, tolerated abortion. Even
if the Catholic Church had approved of abortion at one time (AND
IT NEVER HAS), its position now is what is relevant. And that
position is unyieldingly against abortion.

The treasured "diversity of opinion" has, on the one side,
the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, all reputable theologians, and the
Magisterium of the eternal Roman Catholic Church. On the other side is a
ragtag, disreputable gaggle of defrocked priests, dissidents, and those
with an unending itch to destroy that which stands for good. These
people include;



disgraced priests and ex-priests, including Father Charles
Curran and Daniel Maguire, all of whom have been disavowed and
reprimanded by Rome;

 renegade nuns, like Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey, who
have been censured by Rome, and who have quit their orders; and

Just a few examples of the dissidents' bizarre antics and ridiculous
statements are shown below. The phrase, "by their fruits you shall
know them" rings true in the cases of these pro-abortion
propagandists.

Warped 'Tradition.'

Father Richard O'Brien, former Chairman of the Theology department at
the University of Notre Dame, says that "Catholic tradition"
forbids efforts to change current American law on abortion. Father
Charles Curran agrees. Naturally, in their view, "Catholic
tradition" allows changing the American law to permit
abortion!

Father Raymond G. Decker, Assistant Dean of Loyola University School
of Law, said that Roe v. Wade "... is more in accord with
fundamental Christian principles ... than the positions reflected in the
rather strident criticisms it has received from certain Catholic
sources."

Washington's Archbishop James A. Hickey stated that pro-abortion
Catholic politicians and judges, no matter how ruthlessly they push
abortion, are "practicing Catholics in good standing." The
examples he gave: Fanatical pro-abortion U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, who
killed Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, and William Brennan, the
'brains' behind the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that
condemned literally tens of millions of preborn children to death.

Archbishop Hickey's claim was in direct contradiction to the November
18, 1974 Vatican Declaration on Abortion, which clearly stated
that "Nor can he [the politician] take part in a propaganda
campaign in favor of such a[n abortion] law, or vote for it."

That Blasted Vaccine Again ...

Certain pro-abortion priests and ex-preists (including Daniel
Maguire, Richard McCormick, James Halstead, Louis Janssens, Abel
Jeanniere, and Pierre Simon) say that Pope Leo XII declared in 1829 that
smallpox was a judgment from God and that "the smallpox vaccination
is a challenge towards Heaven."

In a failed attempt at parallelism, these dissidents use this
purported quote by Pope Leo XII to 'show' that the Catholic Church does
indeed change its moral teachings with regard to biological matters like
birth control, sterilization, and abortion.

However, after intensive research, experienced investigator Father
Donald Keefe concluded that no such papal statement or Bull existed in
any records anywhere, and the above-mentioned dissident priests could
not provide substantiation of the statement. In other words, some
abortophile simply made the statement up and every one of these
'theologians' was so eager to attack the Catholic Church that they
seized upon the fabrication without bothering to check it for
authenticity.[21]

More 'Nunsense.'

The pro-abortion National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN), in its
"Statement on Its Opposition to the Hatch Act," made perhaps
the smoothest "personally opposed, but ..." excuse ever when
it said that "While we continue to oppose abortion, in principle
and in practice, we are likewise convinced that the responsibility for
decisions in this regard resides primarily with those who are directly
and personally involved."

Like rape and sexual abuse, eh, 'sisters?'

The 'Know-Nothings' Are Back.

Historians remember the hysterical anti-Catholic propaganda vomited
by the Know-Nothing Party and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1800s and early
1900s. Embittered former 'Catholics' have resurrected this garbage and
are freely spewing it today; "The financial demands made on
Catholics are atrocious. Churches are extremely wealthy institutions. I
see what Churches have because I work in a bank. I work hard for what I
have, and I need what I have for myself. I can't afford to support a
priest. Let the priest support me once in a while. The Pope sits over
there and makes all the rules and shakes his head, "Yes, no, yes,
no.' He's got all those jewels. Who does he think he is? Did he ever sit
down and talk to a woman who got into a jam? I'd like to say to him,
"If I had this child, would you take care of it? Pull a few of
those rocks off that habit and take care of it for me? Give up your
jewels ...'"

This trash is not produced by white-robed KKK bigots but by bitter
former 'Catholic' Neofeminists who claim to 'love their Church.' The
above quote is from a 'Catholics' for a Free Choice booklet entitled
"My Conscience Speaks: Catholic Women Discuss Their
Abortions." It is one CFFC's "Abortion in Good Faith"
series of anti-Catholic tracts that bear titles like "I Support You
But I Can't Sign My Name," "We Are the Mainstream," and,
amusingly, "Morality Reborn."[22]

Using Contraception As a Wedge Again.

One particularly clever tactic the Neoliberals use to undermine
Church teaching on abortion is to claim that most Catholic men and women
ignore Church teaching on contraception. Therefore, of course, since
this is America where the majority rules, the Church must be 'wrong' on
contraception. It naturally follows that the Church might also be
'wrong' on abortion.

Unfortunately, the Neoliberals are entirely correct when they claim
that the majority of Catholic men and women ignore Church teachings on
artificial contraception.

The 1988 National Survey of Family Growth, conducted by the
National center for Health Statistics showed that;



72 percent of all married Catholic couples of childbearing
age in the United States use some form of artificial contraception or
sterilization to limit childbearing. 55 percent of these said they
relied on the pill, 22 percent on tubal ligation, 12 percent on
vasectomy, and 11 percent on other artificial methods.

 3 percent of all Catholic couples use some form of natural
family planning (NFP), the only Church-approved method of limiting
family size.

 the remaining 25 percent of all married Catholic couples use
no form of fertility control, because they are either naturally
infertile or are attempting to get pregnant.[23]

The flaw in the Neoliberal line of reasoning is quite plain. The
Catholic Church is not anti-American; but it is un-American
in that it is not a democracy. God did not set up a pluralistic
system. He made the rules; the Church interprets the rules; and it is up
to us to follow the rules.

If only one Catholic man or woman in the country adhered to Church
teachings on abortion or contraception while everyone else ignored them,
that one person would be in the right. Everyone else would be wrong.

It is as simple as that. But a Neoliberal mind simply cannot grasp
the concept that some people might want to give up some of their
"freedom of choice" in order to save their souls. Faithful
Catholics 'trade' a portion of their personal autonomy in exchange for
an infinitely great reward. Since Neoliberals do not believe in the
existence of the 'reward,' they simply cannot understand such a
transaction.

Analysis of The New York
Times Statement.

As a Catholic, Jesuit, and priest, I'm against it [abortion],
except for women!

Pro-abortion Catholic 'priest' Robert Drinan.[24]

Introduction.

There have been many full-fledged media campaigns conducted by
pro-abortionists for the purpose of undermining Catholic Church teaching
on abortion, but the 1984 New York Times statement is undoubtedly
the most notorious example of this genre. It is also entirely typical of
this type of subversive attack.

The New York Times advertisement by the pseudo-religious
splinter group 'Catholics' for a Free Choice (which is excerpted at the
beginning of this chapter) is an absolutely classic use of the
propaganda strategy commonly referred to by professionals as
"infiltration and subversion."

Simply stated, this pro-abortion group seeks to render ineffective or
less effective a dangerous opponent to abortion 'rights' (in this case,
the Catholic Church) by confusing its rank-and-file members and marginal
priests as to authentic Catholic teaching.

This tactic has been effective in wars of all kinds since the
beginning of time. The CFFC statement, which claims diversity and
inconsistency within the Catholic Church is, quite simply, a barefaced
lie.

For more information on the Neoliberal strategy of infiltration and
subversion, see Chapter 10 of Volume I.

Dissidents in 'Action.'

Nearly a hundred persons signed the (in)famous New York Times
statement challenging the position of the Catholic Church regarding
abortion. Of these, all but four eventually retracted their statements
after inquiries by Rome, betraying their total lack of courage and
commitment to their cause. Of the four who refused to retract their
statements, two were defrocked priests with an axe to grind (and nothing
to lose) and two were marginal nuns who finally left their order after
causing grave scandal.

People who have been excommunicated, and those without the courage of
their convictions, frequently purport to speak for the Catholic Church.
However, they obviously have no standing whatsoever.

Their Real Objectives.

Notice how the signers of the CFFC statement call abortion
"tragic." These are pure crocodile tears, shed in an attempt
to give their position a transparent veneer of humanity.

In reality, the people who bought this and signed it couldn't care
less about the preborn. Renegade pro-abortion "Catholic"
groups want abortion for everyone, for any reason, and demand
that the public pay for it whether members of that same public believe
that abortion is murder or not.

Many organizations that represent themselves as 'Catholic' are busily
burrowing away at Church moral teaching from within, in attempts to
water it down to the point where it is indistinguishable from Humanistic
public morality.

Those subversive pro-abortion groups that falsely refer to themselves
as 'Catholic' include;[25]

Through media tools like expensive ads in virulently pro-abortion
newspapers, CFFC and other dissidents allege that the Pope is a renegade
and that the Catholic Church is unpopular, backward, and "out of
touch with the mainstream." By implication, of course, pro-aborts
can then assert that the positions of the Church on social issues are
also 'out of touch.'

Marjorie Reilly Maguire and Daniel C. Maguire of 'Catholics' for a
Free Choice, the best anti-Catholic propagandists the pro-aborts can
field, slyly 'compliment' the Church while asserting that pro-life
priests and laity are not part of the "real" Church;
"Thus, the Catholic Church, when considered in its rich diversity,
teaches that some abortions can be moral and that conscience is the
final arbiter of any abortion decision. Unfortunately, the Catholicism
that is taught in many Catholic parishes does not reflect the richness
of the Catholic faith."[26]

Obviously, Maguire believes that parishes that are liberal on
abortion are "mature," "diverse," "open,"
and "rich." Those that uphold authentic Catholic
teaching on abortion are "narrow," "punitive," and
"impoverished."

Polls commissioned by the secular media prove that CFFC is wrong and,
not surprisingly, that CFFC and its contemptible ilk are merely (as they
like to say about pro-lifers) "a small and vocal minority."
These polls show that, if one considers the people to be the church, the
real Catholic Church is, indeed, pro-life.

On the occasion of the Pope's 1987 visit to the United States, the New
York Times and CBS News commissioned a nationwide poll of American
Catholics during the period August 16 to 22 .

The poll found that 59 percent of all Catholics had a favorable
opinion of Pope John Paul II. A tiny minority of dissidents and
renegades (only 5 percent) had an unfavorable impression of the current
Pope.

More than half of all Catholics (56 percent) agreed that Pope John
Paul II is "... a moral and humanitarian spokesman for all people,
no matter what their religion."[27]

On parallel issues, only 29 percent of American Catholics said that
abortion should be as widely available as it is now; this is compared to
40 percent of non-Catholics. 61 percent of all Catholics said that
abortion was the equivalent of murdering a child, compared to 47 percent
for non-Catholics.[27]

Pro-Abortion Bigots.

I've always known that Catholicism is a completely sexist,
repressed, sin- and punishment-based religion.

Trash star Madonna.[28]

Have Their Pie and Eat it, Too ...

As usual, the pro-abortionists want it both ways. On one hand, they
claim that there is a 'diversity of opinion' within the Catholic Church
on abortion, and boast that there are wide cracks in the moral positions
of the 'monolithic, hierarchical church.' They say that many or most
Catholics would not 'impose their morality' on others. And then the
pro-aborts produce phony public opinion polls 'showing' that Catholic
women get abortions more than any other class of women.

However, when it is convenient for them, the same people play the
victim and pretend to cower before the 'onslaught against abortion
rights' by the 'rigid and dogmatic' Catholic Church. They snivel loudly
about how viciously they are being persecuted, while they themselves see
no violence in tearing apart thousands of unborn children every day.

The same people who would blow a major blood vessel if anyone
criticized them for being intolerant or judgmental see no problem at all
with launching vitriolic tirades against Catholics that are bigoted and
judgmental by any yardstick. For example, a writer in the Communist
propaganda sheet Women and Revolution recently raved that
"According to chief druid Karol Wojtyla, procreation is the only
legitimate function of sex. The Church staunchly defends the family
because it is a fundamental pillar of class society ... Church and state
out of the bedrooms! For the full separation of church and state! The
revolutionary democrat Garibaldi correctly stated that "the Vatican
is the cancer of Italy ... Down with the Concordat! Church out of the
schools! Expropriate the Vatican and all its assets! Abolish
"conscientious objection [for doctors who do not want to do
abortions]!" Those who would practice medicine cannot also declare
themselves "objectors!""[29]

This is all part of a larger, more important two-step strategy.
First, the pro-abortionists would like to irretrievably link abortion
with the Catholic Church in the public mind. Then, they would like to
thoroughly discredit Catholic teaching on abortion by 'proving' it to be
inconsistent, unscientific, and politically motivated.

The end result would be obvious: Any opposition to abortion,
whether it be by Catholics, fundamentalists, or atheists, would be
discounted as religious fanaticism, or even worse Catholic
religious fanaticism.

The pro-aborts are bigots to the core. They use America's residual
anti-Catholicism to try to preserve their precious and bloody 'right,'
and they use it effectively. Try to imagine the tactics described in the
following paragraphs being tolerated when used against Jews or Blacks,
and remember that these are just the most overt examples of such
bigotry.

Litigation Chicanery.

The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case Harris v. McRae
(which ruled the Hyde Amendment constitutional) tried to convince the
Court that such an Amendment was a violation of the First Amendment
Establishment Clause because it "incorporate[s] into law the
doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the sinfulness of
abortion and the time at which life commences."[30] Naturally, the
plaintiffs did not point out the opposite side of the same coin: That
declaring the unborn to be only 'potential life' is also a
religious view held by several denominations.

Defining the 'Enemy.'

Anti-Catholic bigotry is a long and dishonorable tradition of the
pro-death forces, beginning with Margaret Sanger. David M. Kennedy
writes that "Remembering also the radical maxim that a visible
enemy was an indispensable source of inspiration for a social movement,
she [Sanger] used the Catholic church as she had previously used the
'plutocrats' and Anthony Comstock as a goad to energize her supporters
and as a foil to dramatize her cause ... As she grew older, her
childhood obsession with supposed Catholic deviousness became more and
more exaggerated."[31]

A generation later, hate of Catholics had not abated a whit in the
cold hearts of the social engineers. Dr. Bernard Nathanson describes a
1969 conversation he had (while still an abortionist) with fellow
abortophile Larry Lader, in his book Aborting America;

Historically, every revolution has to have its villain ... Now, in
our case, it makes little sense to lead a campaign only against unjust
laws, even though that's what we really are doing. We have to narrow
the focus, identify those unjust laws with a person or a group of
people ... There's always been one group of people in this country
associated with reactionary politics, behind-the-scenes manipulations,
socially backward ideas. You know who I mean, Bernie ... the Catholic
hierarchy. That's a small enough group to come down on, and anonymous
enough so that no names ever have to be mentioned ...

Lader also tried to set church against church when he asserted in his
originally-named book Abortion that "Unless Protestantism
wants to continue its unstated but inherent subservience to Catholic
doctrine, it is high time the Protestant leadership announces: A piece
of tissue cannot be sanctified as human life." He also cast
Catholics as anti-American and established a well-known pro-abortion
slogan in the same book;

As long as the Catholic Church, or any faith, continues to block
legislation allowing individual conscience and free choice in
abortion, the core of our democratic system is crippled. The right to
abortion is the foundation of Society's long struggle to guarantee
that every child comes into this world wanted, loved, and cared for.
The right to abortion, along with all birth-control measures, must
establish the Century of the Wanted Child.[32]

It did not take the pro-abortionists long to pick up on Lader's
virulent brand of bigotry. The Catholic Church's stand on abortion was
first directly attacked on April 19, 1970, when the Michigan chapter of
the National Organization for Women's (NOW) so-called Ecumenical Task
Farce on Women and Religion burned a Catholic missal and sent the ashes
to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.[33]

It did not take long for Lader's bigotry to explode into written and
spoken tirades heavy-laden with hate and guilt, as demonstrated by Anne
Gaylor (a Zero Population Growth fanatic who hypocritically has four
children) in her bizarre book Abortion is a Blessing; "There
is no point in our pretending that official Catholic views are
enlightened and humane, or that Catholics are not different from anyone
else. Catholics are different from others they are quite willing to
associate themselves with an organization that has done and continues to
do an immense amount of damage to women, to families, to countries, and
to the world. If the Catholic doctrines on sex could prevail, all the
world would be miserable instead of just some of it. All the world would
be hungry. The world would end."[34] Gaylor also waxed ineloquent
on the Edelin abortion/infanticide trial;

That gentle Dr. Edelin ever should have found himself a defendant
against a charge of manslaughter beggars belief ... That
card-carrying, dues-paying Catholics ever should have been allowed to
serve on a jury deciding a charge of abortion-related manslaughter is
a travesty of justice.[34]

It did not seem to occur to Gaylor that her statement was equivalent
to asserting that no Jew should ever sit on a jury judging an American
Nazi accused of committing hate crimes.

NARAL itself, of course, certainly did not stop at burning Catholic
books. The minutes of the National Association for the Repeal of
Abortion Laws Executive Committee meeting of Friday, May 12, 1972, show
an obvious and extreme anti-Catholic bigotry as a parade of NARAL
leaders proclaimed their hatred of Catholics and their Church in
general.

Figure 43-4 consists of extracts from these minutes showing how the
NARAL bosses alleged that the Pope runs America; that direct violence
must be used against the Catholic Church; that the Catholic Church is
"anti-life" and hates women; and that other illegal and
unethical tactics must be used against the Church in the fight for
abortion 'rights.'

FIGURE 43-4
ANTI-CATHOLIC QUOTES BY LEADERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE
REPEAL OF ABORTION LAWS AT THE 1972 NARAL NATIONAL STRATEGY MEETING

NOTE: These summaries are exact quotes transcribed by a secretary for
the minutes of the May 12, 1972 meeting of the executive board of the
National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, later the National
Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). All quotes below are copied
verbatim from the Minutes.

Lawrence Lader, Chairman, NARAL Executive Committee
(1) Stated Billy Graham and the Pope running our country.
(4) Catholics trying to overthrow the most humanitarian legislation of
our time.
(7) [Catholic] Priests went into assembly and terrorized [Texas]
legislators.
(10) Stressed that he [Lader] uses every opportunity Television
appearances, radio interviews, newspapers to criticize the way the
Catholic Church uses its tax free monies, etc.

Hon. Lorraine Beebe, former State Senator, Michigan(1) Stressed financial strength of the Catholic Church.
(2) We have been nice, pleasant too long. We can be restrained no longer Right to Lifers have a total lack of respect for human life. "We
can no longer move restrainedly, sit on our apathy and hope Rome will
burn."
(3) Catholics waged a smear campaign against me when they learned I had
had a therapeutic abortion. They made threatening calls, threw eggs at
my house. Had signs 'A vote for Beebe is a vote against the Pope.'
(4) The catholics will stop at no ends to reach their goals.

Lawrence Lader I share Mrs. Beebe's attitude, "I don't
care if we have a Belfast and Dublin here in the U.S. we must have a
direct conflict with the Catholic Church."

Rev. Cobb made a very dramatic entrance ripping off his collar and
asking "who are you afraid of" -when you thought I was a
Catholic Priest you looked stunned. You should not be afraid of a church
that condemns but does not forgive.

"Protestants have been
bought by the Roman Catholic Church."

He proceeded to knock ecumenism and state[d] that if the Churches go
to Rome he will go walking on his hands.
(5) A good Roman Catholic Liberal can be valuable.

William Baird, Director, Parent's Aid Society
(1) Single Greatest Threat to Women Roman Catholic Church
(3) In attacking Catholic Church concentrate on separation of church
and state.

Summary -

(3) Their [NARAL] attack will be concentrated even to court cases against the Catholic Church and trying to make people believe that Pope
is trying to run the country, and that the Catholic Church is trying to
take over Protestant Churches."

[Secretary's final comment]: "At this point we had to leave It
was after 5 ... I was getting a bit nervous the anti-catholic,
anti-Right to Life feeling in that room was close to violent."

This virulent anti-Catholic bigotry was shared by virtually every
rank-and-file member of NARAL. The same hate still smolders, but it has
been muted in order to avoid public condemnation.

References: Catholic Church Position on Abortion.

[1] National Council of Catholic Bishops, Fall 1989 conference
resolution of November 8, 1989.

[2] October 7, 1984 New York Times statement entitled "A
Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion," signed by 97 members
of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice.

[9] Monsignor William Smith, "Humanae Vitae, Dissent, and
Infallibility." Presentation at Human Life International's
"Conference on Love, Life, and the Family," held in Santa
Barbara, California in March of 1991. This superb talk answers all of
the difficult questions that may be posed by pro-aborts on Catholic
teaching regarding abortion and artificial contraception. The tape of
Msgr. Smith's talk would be very useful as a part of catechism classes
and natural family planning presentations, and can be ordered from Human
Life International, 7845-E Airpark Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879.

[18] The Homiletic & Pastoral Review has printed several
excellent discussions on the concept of Baptism of Desire. Specifically,
see Father Francis C. O'Hara's article entitled "Limbo in Terms of
Abortion" in the January 1985 issue and the rebuttal letters by
Father Thomas Cleary, Father David Altman and Richard A. Ruth in the
June 1985 issue. Back issues of this monthly magazine, produced
primarily to aid priests in the preparation of sermons, are commonly
saved by priests in larger parishes and by offices of various
Archdioceses.

Apropos, Volume 5. A.S. Fraser, Editor, Burnbrae, Staffin Road,
Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland, IV51 9HP, United Kingdom. Subscription
is by regular mail, or by airmail. This is a magazine devoted to
developments in the European Catholic Church. Lately, the European
Church has become deeply embroiled in the continuing controversy over
fertility science, including various forms of in-vitro
fertilization (IVF).

Benedict M. Ashley, O.P. Theologies of the Body: Humanist and
Christian. The Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education
Center, 186 Forbes Road, Braintree, Massachusetts 02184. 1985, 727
pages. A very in-depth examination of the history and implications of
the attitudes towards the human body by Christians and humanists.

Roy Howard Beck. On Thin Ice. Order from Bristol Books, Box
150, Wilmore, Kentucky 40390, telephone 1-800-451-READ. This book
uncovers the means and tactics that the liberals have used to undermine
and paralyze the mainline churches and, even worse, perverted them so
completely that some of them embrace the entire left-wing agenda.
Particular attention is lavished upon the National Council of Churches (NCC).

Catholic Eye. This periodical consists of incisive commentary on
various political and life-issue events. Write to The National Committee
of Catholic Laymen, Inc., James McFadden, Jr., Editor, Room 840, 150
East 35th Street, New York, New York, 10157-0137.

The Catholic Family News. 414 East Lawrence Street, Post Office
Box 2435, Mount Vernon, Washington 98273. Telephone: (206) 336-5150. A
monthly 16-page newspaper that includes general articles on items of
information that will be of interest to traditional Catholic families.

Catholic World Report. Post Office Box 6718, Syracuse, New York
13217. The main office for this publication is in Rome, and thus
publisher Robert Moynihan has an advantage in reporting what is really
going on in the Catholic Church. Subscription is for a journal that
covers all of the hot issues in the Catholic Church today: Abortion,
altar girls, persecution of Catholics in China, the politics of
sainthood, the Tridentine Mass movement, devotion to the Blessed Virgin
Mary (by Muslims)!, the Irish and abortion, apparitions, clandestine
Catholic communities, and many others.

Catholics United for Life.
CUL issues this untitled 4-page
aperiodic newsletter about once every six weeks. It deals primarily with
the methods and spirituality surrounding sidewalk counseling. Write to
Catholics United for Life, New Hope, Kentucky 40052.

Ronda Chervin. Feminine, Free, and Faithful. 143 pages. Order
from Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528.
Chervin shows that freedom and femininity are not mutually exclusive
terms, but necessary elements for a woman to achieve her full potential
as a Christian.

Mary Lewis Coakley. Long Liberated Ladies. 260 pages. Order
from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528,
telephone: 1-800-528-0559. A favorite Neofeminist myth is that the
Catholic Church institutionally and systematically oppresses women as a
class. This book outlines the lives of women who accomplished
spectacular spiritual and material feats instead of whining about how
terribly they were "oppressed." Stories include the lives of
Saint Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Amelia Earhart, Isabella of
Castille, and Florence Nightingale.

Father John Connery, S.J. Abortion: The Development of the Roman
Catholic Perspective. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1977.
Hardcover. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton,
Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This study traces the entire
history of the Roman Catholic doctrine regarding abortion from the
beginning of the Christian era to modern times. Particular attention is
given to the controversy and confusion within the Church regarding
abortion to save the life of the mother.

Robert P. Craig, Carl L. Middleton, and Laurence J. O'Connell. Ethics
Committees: A Practical Approach. The Catholic Health Association of
the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63134-0889.
1986, 95 pages. Topics covered include the functions of Catholic
institutional (hospital) ethics committees, their structure, membership,
formation, religious perspectives on them, their history and role, and
the roles of the five key players: The administrator, the medical staff,
nursing staff, theologian/ethicist, and the bishop.

Michael W. Cuneo. Catholics Against the Church: Anti-Abortion
Protest in Toronto, 1969-1985. University of Toronto Press, 1989,
221 pages. The author traces the history and sociology of the Canadian
pro-life movement as it battles the most liberal Church hierarchy in the
world. The author is not writing from the pro-life viewpoint, but his
insights will be valuable for American pro-life strategists. A detailed
recounting of the battle over the illegal but government-protected
Morgentaler clinics is also provided.

Daughters of St. Paul. Pro-Life Catechism. Order from
Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts,
02130. 98 pages, 1986. Catholic teaching on life issues, in a useful
question-and-answer format. The answers to the questions are drawn
directly from Church documents. This book contains useful and pertinent
information for all Christian pro-life activists.

Daughters of St. Paul. Yes to Life. Order from Daughters of
St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02130. 328 pages,
1976. May also be ordered from Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton,
Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This is an outstanding
sourcebook that summarizes the teachings of the Catholic Church
regarding abortion from the first century to 1975. The book quotes the
writings of the early church fathers in the first through fifth
centuries and the teachings of five recent Popes, in addition to the
documents issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith. The Bishops of nineteen countries speak out eloquently and
forcefully against abortion in this book. This book will be the ultimate
debate weapon for any pro-life activist confronting any member of
'Catholics' for a Free Choice or any other pro-abort who believes that
there is 'room for disagreement' within the Catholic Church about
abortion.

Donald DeMarco, Ph.D. In My Mother's Womb: The Church's Defense of
Natural Life. Hardcover, paperback. Order from: Life Issues
Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898.
An eloquent defense of the Catholic Church's defense of human life. An
examination of abortion's terminology and perspectives, the unborn,
contraception and bio-engineering. Also covered is the Church's
perspective on new technologies, including in-vitro
fertilization, surrogate motherhood, fetal experimentation, and genetic
engineering. See especially Chapter 1, "Abortion and Church
Teaching," pages 7 to 25, "Abortion and Bio-Engineering,"
pages 82 to 88, and "In Vitro Fertilization," pages 143
to 159.

Christopher Derrick. Sex and Sanctity: A Catholic Homage to Venus.
Ignatius Press, Post Office Box 18990, San Francisco, California 94118.
1982, 219 pages. Reviewed by Donna Steichen in the Fall 1983 issue of
the International Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 269 to
272. Why Christians and pagans have more in common with each other than
with people who live in this 'desacrilized' world.

Jay P. Dolan. The American Catholic Experience: A History From
Colonial Times to the Present. Doubleday, 454 pages. 1985. Reviewed
by David Rooney on pages 50 and 51 of the April 11, 1986 issue of National
Review.

Ethics & Medics. Subtitled A Catholic Perspective on Moral
Issues in the Health and Life Sciences.This venerable monthly
comments on all of the important developments in the life issues, to
include animal rights and euthanasia. Subscribe by writing to The Pope
John Center, 186 Forbes Road, Braintree, Massachusetts 02184, telephone:
(617) 848-6965.

Fidelity. This monthly publication is billed as "a magazine
on the family that is as Catholic as the Pope," and is a scholarly
journal which takes an in-depth look at a wide range of topics of
interest to Christians. It dissects in detail various issues affecting
the Christian Church in the United States today, and is fairly heavy
reading. It is also lengthy at about forty pages. The bulk of each issue
is devoted to a very detailed examination of some current pro-life or
religious issue. Examples are a 27-page report on the Pensacola abortion
mill bomber trial written by someone who shadowed the lawyers for the
defendants for the duration of the trial, and a 30-page essay on the
effects of witchcraft and feminism on Western thought and beliefs. Other
recent topics include Modernism and the effect of Eastern religions on
the Christian Church in the United States. Included in each issue is a
lengthy (5 to 7 page) letters section which is very informative in
itself. Although this magazine identifies itself as strongly Catholic,
all articles should be of interest to any pro-life activist. Fidelity
is a monthly magazine. Write to: Ultramontane Associates, Inc., 206
Marquette Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, 46617.

Father John Ford, Germain Grisez, Joseph Boyle, John Finnis, and
William E. May. The Teaching of Humanae Vitae: A Defense. 224
pages. Order from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York
10528, telephone: 1-800-528-0559. Five of the most respected theologians
in the world explain why Humanae Vitae is the inevitable product
of Catholic moral principles. The encyclical is shown to be valid and
universal to all Christians, and is also shown to fulfill the
requirements of infallibility under Vatican II's Lumen Gentium.

Anne Marie Gardiner, SSND (editor). Women and Catholic Priesthood:
An Expanded Vision. Proceedings of the Detroit Ordination
Conference. New York: Paulist Press. 1976, 250 pages. Two hundred pages
of sniveling from the usual (dissenting) suspects. All of the old
shopworn arguments are put forth for women's ordination, and it all just
seems so unconvincing. Interesting appendices include the conference
roster of attendees, a list of the public sponsors of the conference,
and "women in Catholic priesthood now."

Michael J. Gorman. Abortion & the Early Church: Christian,
Jewish & Pagan Attitudes in the Greco-Roman World.InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 60515. 1982, 124 pages.
This book emphasizes the positions of early religions towards abortion
and infanticide and covers the relevance of such teachings today. A good
resource for those who want to refute the claim that the Catholic Church
has not always opposed abortion.

Monsignor Orville N. Griese. Catholic Identity in Health Care:
Principles and Practice. The Pope John Center, 186 Forbes Road,
Braintree, Massachusetts 02184. 538 pages, 1987. The author examines in
detail every one of the incredible range of ethical and moral questions
that more and more Catholic hospitals are going to be forced to
address by our more and more pro-abortion government. Topics covered
include sterilization; emergency infant baptisms; natural family
planning; the use of the birth control pill; the various types of
artificial insemination; surrogate motherhood; abortion; passive and
active euthanasia; informed consent; gender identity problems and
transsexualism; the "double effect;" fetal experimentation and
organ transplantation; and the right of a spouse to be informed of his
or her partner's AIDS infection. This book is the only known source that
collects in one place all of the most important Catholic teaching on all
of the above ethical and moral issues.

Weldon M. Hardenbrook. Missing in Action: Vanishing Manhood in
America. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1987. 192 pages.
Reviewed by James Bruen in the December 1987 Fidelity Magazine.
Any Neofeminist who reads this book will die of apoplexy. The book
surveys the feminization of American culture and the extreme confusion
and the resulting lack of direction in our society. It is now men, not
women, who are alienated from many aspects of the Catholic Church and
the mainline Protestant Churches that have allowed themselves to be
deceived and seduced by the Neofeminists. The author presents an array
of solutions to the phenomenon of women's leadership by default: Avoid
government programs that are biased towards women; adjust social
programs to reflect the differences between boys and girls; and get men
to accept their responsibilities as spiritual and moral heads of their
families.

Father Robert J. Henle, S.J. "A Historical View of the Right to
Life." The Catholic League Newsletter, July 1981. This
four-page reprint rebuts the lie-packed 1981 National Organization for
Women publication entitled "An Abbreviated Chronology of
Reproductive Rights, 2600 B.C. to the Present." In addition to
correcting all of NOW's deliberate falsehoods and anti-Catholic slander,
Father Henle shows that those ancient societies that practiced
cannibalism, slavery, oppression of women, perpetual warfare, and had a
great number of superstitions generally had very permissive abortion and
infanticide laws. Those societies that had what anthropologists call the
"high religions" and a high degree of civilization had a
general consensus against abortion. For example, the ancient Vedic
writings of India condemned abortion from 1500 to 500 B.C. Buddhism as
far back as 600 B.C. totally condemned abortion. And, since 622 A.D.,
Islam has condemned abortion.

Homiletic & Pastoral Review. This venerable monthly journal
packs many articles and letters of interest into its approximately 80
pages. Although it is primarily designed to inform Catholic priests
(half of whom receive it), it is of interest to all Christians who want
to keep up on traditional theological theory. Write to Catholic Polls,
86 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10024, or call (212) 799-2600.
Subscription rates are for one year and for two years.

Human Life International Reports. These monthly reports give
details on the progress of the international pro-life movement in many
countries and the status of pro-homosexual and pro-abortion infiltration
of domestic and foreign Catholic churches. Less detailed coverage of a
broader range of topics is given in HLI's monthly Special Reports. To
subscribe, write to Human Life International, 7845-E Airpark Road,
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879, or call (301) 670-7884. HLI's FAX number
is (301) 869-7363.

The Human Life Review. This is a superbly presented scholarly
journal modeled after the most distinguished psychobiology periodicals,
and is published by the Human Life Foundation. It is mailed quarterly,
and contains about 150 pages of essays by the best-known pro-life
authors in the world, primarily on the legal and sociological aspects of
abortion and its loathsome offspring, infanticide and euthanasia. One of
the favorite topics of the authors is the continued lack of decisive
action by the Catholic Church and other institutions. This excellent
chronicle of the American Holocaust and its many effects is must reading
for the serious pro-life activist. The nation's top conservative writers
examine the anti-life philosophy in clinical and brilliant detail with
their scholarly and insightful articles. Most back issues are available.
Subscriptions are annual, and back issues, both bound and unbound, are
available from: Editorial Office, 150 East 35th Street, Room 840, New
York, New York 10016. Telephone: (212) 685-5210, FAX: (212) 696-0309.

J.A. Johnston, M.D., and D.B. Robert. Catholic Women and Abortion:
A Profile, Sample and Case Study. Sydney, Australia: Catholic Family
Life Programme, 1978. 136 pages. Reviewed by Donald DeMarco, Ph.D., in
the Spring 1980 issue of the International Review of Natural Family
Planning, pages 74 to 81. This bizarre and muddled book shows that
pro-abortionists use the same subtle anti-Catholic bias all over the
world, even 'down under.' These authors present a purportedly
comprehensive study whose numbers are impossible to follow because they
change constantly and do not even add up! The pro-abortion bias and
utter ignorance of the authors shows when they identify the Catholic
Church as a "Right-to-Life Movement," and when they insist
that a woman who aborts her child and sterilizes herself after using
contraception during her entire period of childbearing years to cover up
numerous acts of adultery is a "devout Catholic" because she
occasionally attends Mass! This book, a combination of inept
number-crunching and outright bigoted propaganda, is apparently what
Aussie pro-aborts consider "leading-edge research."

George A. Kelly (editor). Human Sexuality in Our Time: What the
Church Teaches. 1978: Paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf,
Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898.
Proceedings of the Spring 1978 conference by St. John's University's
Institute for Advanced Studies in Catholic Doctrine. Topics include
Catholics and the Pill; the Bible and human sexuality; the morality and
sanctity of sex; and what the Church teaches on sex.

John F. Kippley. "Birth Control and Christian
Discipleship." 1985, paperback, 36 pages, from the Couple to Couple
League, Post Office Box 111184, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211-1184, or from
Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone:
(703) 586-4898. This superb booklet outlines the history of artificial
contraception, its effects upon the body, the family and society in
general, and the history of traditional Scriptural and Christian
opposition to it (both Protestant and Catholic), until the collapse of
the Church's resistance in the period 1930 to 1970.

John F. Kippley. Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for
Morality. Couple to Couple League, Post Office Box 111184,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45211. 355 pages, 1991. A very detailed workbook-like
approach to human sexuality and its relationship to marriage. The author
shows how intercourse outside of marriage and the use of artificial
contraception can never be licit and refutes many of the arguments set
forth by the "revisionists" who would like to dilute Catholic
teaching on sexual ethics.

Anthony Kosnik, William Carroll, Agnes Cunningham, Ronald Modras, and
James Schulte, members of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Human
Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought.
Paulist
Press, 1977. 322 pages. Reviewed by Frances Day in an article entitled
"Septenary Sex" in the Winter 1977 issue of the International
Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 368 to 379. The title of
this book is correct in that the authors generally follow current
'Catholic' American thinking on contraception and other evils. This type
of thinking was the very first step taken by the Anglicans in 1930, and
inevitably leads to abortion and euthanasia.

Carl Landwehr. "Involving Your Church in the Right to Life
Issue." How to involve your congregation and, even more
importantly, your pastor in pro-life activism. One of a set of nine
booklets that outline an effective, unified strategy for stopping
abortion on a local level. Order separately or as a group from: National
Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, 419 7th Street, NW, Suite 402,
Washington, D.C. 20044, or from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life,
Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898.

Father Ronald Lawler, Joseph Boyle, Jr., and William E. May. Catholic
Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, and Defense. 1985, 274 pages.
Paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton,
Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. Reviewed by Father Robert
Barry, Ph.D. on pages 346 to 348 of the Winter 1985 issue of the International
Review of Natural Family Planning. A very clearly written summary of
Catholic Church teaching on sexual morality. Topics include the Bible
and sex; formation of conscience; chastity, virginity, and Christian
marriage; and Church teaching on sex.

Linacre Quarterly. This quarterly magazine is "A journal of
the philosophy and ethics of medical practice," and is the official
journal of the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds. It
can be obtained from 850 Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove, Wisconsin 53122,
telephone: (414) 784-3435.

Father Ermenegildo Lio, OFM. Humanae Vitae e Infallibilita: Il
Concilio, Paolo VI e Giovanni Paolo II ("Humanae Vitae
and Infallibility: The Council, Paul VI, and John Paul II").
Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1986. The detailed review (six
full pages) of this book by Father Brian W. Harrison in the November
1987 Fidelity Magazine covers the author's essential points and
will be very useful to the reader who does not want to plow through the
nearly 1,000 pages of the book. The general view among competent
Catholic theologians is that Humanae Vitae is non-infallible,
although belonging to the "authentic" ordinary magisterium of
the Catholic Church. The book lays out in detail the reasoning behind
the view that the encyclical is, indeed, infallible, and therefore a
necessary article of faith for salvation.

Joyce Lively. A Pro-Life Primer: The ABC's of Working in the
Parish. The Regina Coeli Institute, 145 Crestmont Terrace,
Collingswood, New Jersey 08108. 1991, 71 pages. This book describes a
compendium of 'low-key' activities that parishes can get involved in.
Since these activities are relatively non-controversial, pastors have
less of an excuse not to get involved. Topic include supporting crisis
pregnancy centers, Masses for expectant families, phone trees, letters,
fair booths, identifying support in the parish, and spiritual adoption
of the unborn. Sample flyers are included.

Kevin C. Long. Anti-Catholicism in the 1980s. Milwaukee:
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 1990.

Father Vincent P. Miceli. Women Priests and Other Fantasies.
Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261,
North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The author
examines the pandemonium that results in the Christian Church
(particularly the Catholic Church) when the senses of the sacred and
supernatural are lost. The instant that Holy Scripture is judged by
secular standards, the message of Christianity is hopelessly compromised
and lost.

Stephen D. Mumford. American Democracy & The Vatican:
Population Growth and National Security. The Humanist Press, 7
Harwood Drive, Post Office Box 146, Amherst, New York 14226. 1984, 265
pages. This book is praised by Larry Lader and Paul Ehrlich, which clues
us in to its contents. Sure enough, it is a rather unrestrained screed,
filled with great quotes demonstrating the bigotry and the totalitarian
and intolerant nature of the Humanists and population controllers.
Mumford's thesis is that the Vatican and the Catholic Church are
attempting to destroy democracy and even the world by encouraging
uncontrolled breeding. All of the old tired slogans are trotted out: The
Vatican runs the United States, dissident priests are quoted as
authoritative sources, and Catholics are portrayed as mindless drooling
androids.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the United States
Catholic Conference. Pastoral Letters of the United States Catholic
Bishops. Five volumes, 2,630 pages. Volume I: 1792-1940.
Publication Number 880, 480 pages. Covers the Age of John Carroll
(1792-1828), the Provincial Councils (1829-1849), the Plenary Councils
(1852-1884), and between the World Wars (1919-1940). Pastoral Letters
include the 1932 Resolution on Indecent Literature and the 1939
Statement on Peace and War. Volume II: 1941-1961. Publication
Number 885, 270 pages. Includes statements on a good peace, war and
peace, secularism, compulsory military service, the Christian family,
the child, persecution behind the Iron Curtain, censorship, the secular
press, and bigotry. Volume III: 1962-1974. Publication Number
870, 500 pages. Includes statements on the government and birth control,
clerical celibacy, abortion, human life, birth control laws, population
and the American future, and the Human Life Amendment. Volume IV:
1975-1983. Publication Number 875, 605 pages. Statements include the
Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities and resolutions on abortion and
human sexuality. Volume V: 1983-1988. Publication Number 200-4,
775 pages. Statements include the Updated Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life
Activities and resolutions on abortion and school-based clinics. All
volumes may be ordered from the Office of Publishing Services, United
States Catholic Conference, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20005.

Father William Oddie. What Will Happen to God?: Feminism and the
Reconstruction of Christian Belief. 180 pages. Order from: Ignatius
Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone:
1-800-528-0559. The Neofeminists are striving to eliminate from all
church documents and prayers what they consider to be "sexist"
language. Father Oddie exposes the fallacies of this goal, and shows
what will happen if we allow radical feminism to continue to dictate to
the Church. The elimination of so-called "sexist" language is
only the beginning!

Pope John XXIII. Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher), 1961.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope John XXIII. Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), 1963,
contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 342-6.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope John Paul II. Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth
Anniversary of Rerum Novarum), 1991, contained in Contemporary
Catholic Social Teaching, number 436-8. This and other encyclicals
that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the
Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130,
telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference
Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.
20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope John Paul II. Laborem Exercens (On Human Work), 1981,
contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number
825-8.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope John Paul II. Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), 1979,
contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 003-6. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope John Paul II. Theology of the Body. A series of four
books designed to explain in detail the total Catholic Church position
towards the sanctity of sex, marriage, and procreation. Order
individually or as a set from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post
Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201)
423-5395. (1) Original Unity of Man and Woman. A catechesis on
the Book of Genesis and the foundations of the indissolubility of
marriage. Paperback. (2) Blessed Are the Pure of Heart. A
catechesis on the Sermon on the Mount and the writings of St. Paul. A
discussion on the sins relating to adultery. Paperback. (3) The
Theology of Marriage and Celibacy. A catechesis on marriage and
celibacy in light of the resurrection of the body. Based on Matthew
22:24-33, which describes the 'renunciation' of marriage for the Kingdom
of Heaven. Paperback. (4) Reflections on Humanae Vitae. The basis
of the encyclical in light of the redemption of the body and the
sacredness of marriage in the Catholic tradition. Paperback.

Pope Leo XIII. Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Workers),
1891, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number
401-5. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope Paul VI. Humanae Vitae ("Human Life: On the
Regulation of Birth"). Pope Paul's historic Encyclical Letter dated
July 25, 1968. This letter may be obtained in booklet form from the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090, or
from any Archdiocesan office. Also available from Life Issues Bookshelf,
Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This and
other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are
available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston,
Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911.

Pope Paul VI. Octogesima Adveniens ("A Call to Action on
the Eightieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum"), 1971. This and
other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are
available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston,
Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States
Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope Paul VI. Populorum Progressio. ("On Promoting the
Development of Peoples"), 1967, contained in Contemporary Catholic
Social Teaching, number 260-8. This and other encyclicals that are
landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters
of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone:
(617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing
Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194,
telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Pope Paul VI and the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Vatican City. "Declaration on Procured Abortion."
Available as a compact, 4" X 6", 27 page booklet for 15 cents
from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Jamaica Plain,
Massachusetts, 02130. This is the most succinct and authoritative
expression of the Catholic Church's position on abortion, and is written
to be easily understandable. Published by the Vatican on June 28, 1974.

Pope Pius XI. Quadragesimo Anno (On Reconstructing the Social
Order on the Fortieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum), 1931,
contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 401-5.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Roman Catholic Church, Bishops of Ireland. Love is for Life.
122 pages, sewn softcover. Order from Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue,
Harrison, New York 10528. A very readable and interesting summary of the
Church's teachings on love and sexuality. Very useful as a reference
work or backup for Catholic sex education programs.

Roman Catholic Church, Vatican City. Annuario Pontificio.
Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, published annually. 2,100
pages. Anyone who wants to know anything about the people in the Vatican
should look at this reference. There is information on every Archdiocese
in the world, followed by the composition of every important Vatican
office, including the Secretary of State, tribunals, secretariats,
commissions, offices, vicars, representatives, and religious and
cultural institutes. This reference is somewhat arcane in nature, but
can be found at all archdiocesan and diocesan offices.

Roman Catholic Church, Second Vatican Council. Gaudium et Spes
(Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 1965,
contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 015-X.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social
teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the
United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

Roman Catholic Church, Synod of Bishops, Second General Assembly. Justitia
in Mundo (Justice in the World), 1971. This and other encyclicals
that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the
Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130,
telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference
Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.
20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.

J.N. Santamaria, M.D. and John J. Billings, M.D. Human Love and
Human Life: Papers on Humanae Vitae and the Ovulation Method of Natural
Family Planning from the International Conference, University of
Melbourne, 1978. Melbourne, Australia: Polding Press, 1979. 274
pages; paper, hardback. Reviewed by Carman Fallace in the Fall 1980
issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning,
pages 271 to 274. Proceedings of the largest-ever conference on natural
family planning, which covered nine full days.

Father H. Vernon Sattler. Sex Education in the Catholic Family.
Paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton,
Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This short book shows that it
is impossible to teach about sexuality unless we first properly define
it. It is not exclusively recreation, procreation, or romance. Helps
define "love" and introduces parents to the basic principles
of Catholic sex education.

Janet Smith. Humanae Vitae A Generation Later. Catholic
University of America Press, Washington, D.C. 1992. Reviewed by Father
Charles Mangan on page 5 of the August 2, 1992 National Catholic
Register. The author provides detailed background information on the
concept and promulgation of the encyclical, the dissent, the current
Pope's views, and the players on both sides in the Papal Commission for
the Study of Problems of the Family, Population and Birth Rate. She also
addresses the several primary Natural Law arguments on the immorality of
contraception.

Donna Steichen. Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism.
Ignatius Press, San Francisco. 1991, 413 pages. A very detailed and
absorbing account of how the Roman Catholic Church in the United States
has been infiltrated and subverted by Neoliberals and Neofeminists for
the express purpose of blunting its effectiveness in its reaction to
evils such as divorce, abortion, and euthanasia.

Father Rosario Thomas. The Philosophy of Life: The Pope and the
Right to Life. Pro Fratribus Press, Post Office Box 223, Warren, New
Hampshire 03279. 1989, 278 pages. Despite the title, this neat little
book will be of great interest to all Christians. There are topics
covered in this primer that are found in few other similar works: The
media and abortion, the basic philosophy and theology of life, women and
motherhood, natural family planning (NFP), euthanasia, and abortion and
peace. All of these are logically covered and well-presented, but the
reading can get a little 'thick' sometimes. Definitely a book that even
an experienced activist will find challenging.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, Walter Kasper, et.al.
The Church and Women: A Compendium. 280 pages. Order from: Ignatius
Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone:
1-800-528-0559. A collection of articles by leading Church scholars on
the role of women in the Catholic Church today and contemporary issues
regarding feminism, including the ordination of women and the role and
importance of the family. The role of women is developed in a context
faithful to Scripture, tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church.

Dietrich von Hildebrand. The Devastated Vineyard. Order from
Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon,
New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The author describes in
harrowing detail the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church in America
and in Europe, and the methods of infiltration and subversion now being
used to confuse and paralyze all conservative Christian churches in our
country today.

The Wanderer. This superb weekly newspaper covers all of the life
issues in detail from a Catholic viewpoint. In publication for more than
a century, it will be of definite interest to any pro-life activist,
because it covers in detail not only all of the most important
abortion-related stories (including a heavy emphasis on rescuing), but
all of the important stories on related life issues such as
homosexuality, contraception, abortifacients, capital punishment, New
Age, and the 'Seamless Garment." Write to 201 Ohio Street, St.
Paul, Minnesota 55107. Telephone: (612) 224-5733, FAX: (612) 224-5735.

The following documents are considered landmarks in Catholic social
teaching. They are all available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St.
Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and
from the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211
Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone:
1-800-541-3090.